forfeiture of his estates. The rigors of the common law can hardly be said to have been mitigated at the time of the settlement of this continent, nor did it undergo any great reforms until many years thereafter. Indeed, the criminal code of England as a whole had rather increased in severity by the creation of numerous statutory offenses particularly of a political nature, unknown to the ancient law.

The judge next traced the severity of the English law to the disturbed state of society prolonged through centuries of external and internal conflict under the monarchical system, and sketched the severities and cruelties of the old criminal code, with its long list of capital offenses (many of them transferred to the administration on American soil) and the successive measures of amelioration following the Revolution. He led up to a eulogy of the criminal law of Pennsylvania for its "enlightened philanthropy" and recognition of the hope of reclamation in establishing its sanctions, and he continued:

In view of the mild and beneficent code of criminal law in force in our State, it becomes all called to its administration to consider well of their duties and responsibilities. Our Commonwealth inflicts no punishments not demanded by the interests and safety of society, also keeping constantly in view the reformation and ultimate good of the criminal himself. These considerations should incite us all to a fearless and resolute performance of duty. No offender should escape the just punishment of his crime, through the neglect, timidity or false sympathy of any engaged in the administration and execution of the law. All experience teaches that the certainty of punishment is the most effectual restraint on the conduct of the dissolute and wicked. If every breach of the law was visited by immediate and condign punishment, crime would be rare indeed-society would be secure in its great interests and the rights of person and property inviolate. But this desired consummation can not be attained by human tribunals. Any attempt to establish a system of summary punishment for crime would convert the tribunals of the law into the most terrible and irresponsible engines of tyranny and oppression, involving indiscriminately the innocent with the guilty.

The question of guilt or innocence is one that cannot be hastily and summarily disposed of. A safe conclusion can only be reached after a most careful inquiry in due course of law, and under those rules of evidence established by experience as best calculated to lead to certainty and truth. The judgments of the law must await this cautious inquiry, often attended with tedious and expensive delays; but when guilt is clearly established, the sanctions of the law should come with promptness and energy. In no other way can social order be preserved, or the rights of individuals secured. If the law fails to punish the wrongdoer, after his guilt is clearly manifest, men will take the redress of injuries in their own hands, and the very foundations of the political and social fabric be broken up.

The great duty imposed upon criminal courts, is to prosecute according to law inquiry into the guilt or innocence of those charged with public offenses-to see that the innocent have a speedy deliverance, and that merited punishment is meted out to the guilty. In the execution of this delicate task, you, gentlemen, are called upon to perform a responsible part. A careful analysis and thoughtful estimate of the oath you have recently taken, will be your best guide in the discharge of your more important duties. You are to make diligent inquiry of all such matters and things as shall be given you in charge by the Court, or otherwise come to your knowledge-the Commonwealth's counsel, your fellows' and your own, you are to keep secret. You are to present no one for envy, hatred or malice; nor to leave any one unpresented for fear, favor, affection or the hope of reward; but to present all things truly as they shall come to your knowledge. A very comprehensive obligation; and should be well weighed and considered by all who take it upon themselves.

The trial by jury is justly the boast of the common law. It is eminently fitted to meet the ends of justice, and to preserve the rights and liberties of the citizen. In some sense, the accused may be said to enjoy this right in a two-fold degree. It is true. that you do not pass finally upon the question of guilt or innocence; but no man can be put upon his trial for a criminal offense except upon the finding and formal charge of the grand jury. In this, you are made in an especial manner the guardians of the innocent. It is no slight matter to be brought into court on

a criminal charge-to be called upon to plead to an indictment, to be the object of public curiosity-it may be, of uncharitable suspicion—and to await all the forms of a tedious and protracted trial, even though a deliverance comes at last. The innocent man feels that he has been degraded by an unjust accusation. He has been restored to liberty, after months of intense. and ceaseless anxiety, and the expenditure, it may be, of a good part of his substance. One so circumstanced, would very naturally feel that in his case the law had been made the instrument of oppression. The innocent should be protected from the taint of a false accusation, and from the anxiety and expense inseparable from a public trial. It is eminently your duty to afford to the innocent this protection. Prosecutions are often instituted without just cause, and from motives of private malevolence. You can not be too vigilant in arresting all such cases, and when found, should set upon them the mark of your disapprobation. For this purpose the law has given you the power to impose costs upon the prosecutor, in cases not amounting to felony. . . .

That high degree of certainty, which alone would justify the traverse jury in returning a verdict of guilty, is not required in the finding of an indictment, if there should exist a strong probability of the guilt of the person or persons charged-a probability not resting upon suspicion, or loose and uncertain testimony, but sustained by evidence creditable in its character and clearly implicating the accused. You have but one side of the case presented to you you hear only the evidence in behalf of the State. This should induce you to a thorough and scrutinizing examination of the witnesses, as well to enable you to reach the real facts of the case, as to discover the motives that prompt the prosecution.

While it is your duty to throw around the innocent the shield of your protection-to discountenance trivial and unfounded prosecutions to watch vigilantly that the law is not made the instrument of oppression, or the means for the gratification of private hatred or malice-it is no less your duty to lend active and efficient aid in bringing the guilty to punishment. If you are remiss in your duties in this respect, if through weakness, timidity, or motives less excusable, you fail to charge those against whom there is established a strong probability of guilt-you make the law powerless and give impunity to crime. The other branches

of this court, nay, all the ministers of the law, are impotent to reach the guilty offender if the grand jury fails in the fearless discharge of its duty. You are in a great measure responsible for the peace, order and well-being of the society of which you form a part. Your jurisdiction as an inquiring and informing tribunal, extends to all matters and things affecting the public peace and public morals. You are brought together from every part of the county, that the jury as a body may be well informed touching its general morals and social condition. If in any part of the county there exist grievances of a public nature affecting the general good-if there be tolerated open and flagrant vices, corrupting to the public morals, exposing the young to temptation, and tending to immorality and vice-it is your duty to present all such matters to the Court, when the proper steps will be taken to suppress the evil and to punish those who encourage and maintain it.

The charge concluded with more specific illustrations of the duty of the grand jury with reference to establishments encouraging intemperance, gambling, etc., and with special notation of a recent statute of Pennsylvania relative to the circulation and transfer of bank notes or similar currency issued by institutions outside of the State.

VI

SPEECH ON FREEMASONRY AND EDUCATION

DELIVERED July 4, 1853, at the laying of the cornerstone of the Susquehanna Collegiate Institution (a farmers' institute of learning), under Masonic auspices; Union Lodge No. 108, Free and Accepted Masons being assisted by Bradford Lodge No. 167, I. O. O. F. Wilmot made the oration of the day, using the traditional origin and development of freemasonry as an introduction to a discussion of education.

The occasion of this day's assemblage is full of hopeful promise -auspicious of blessings near at hand. The cornerstone of the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute has been laid, with imposing and appropriate ceremonies, under the direction of an ancient and honorable order, claiming connection through its formulas and traditions with remote antiquity, and teaching by its precepts and emblems an exalted morality, and a charity as broad as the universal brotherhood of man. The part assigned to the Masonic fraternity in the exercises of this day is certainly fitting and well chosen. Whatever opinions may be entertained of the value of the institution, or doubts touching its high claims and pretensions, history abundantly attests the important part Masonry has acted on the great theatre of human affairs. Its influence has been powerfully felt in the camps of armies, and in the councils of cabinets. More eminently traditionary in structure and character than any other institution known among men, it has nevertheless received deep and lasting impressions from the progress of civilization and knowledge, and the great events of mediaeval and modern history. At one time we see its more ancient and venerable garb, partially concealed under the gay habiliments of chivalry and romance, and strongly partaking of the religious enthusiasm of the age, leading the van in a crusade against the Infidel, for the recovery of the holy city, and the sepulcher of our Lord. Upon the revival of